


(all you wanna do is) love a decent person

by Moonlark



Category: Olympics RPF, Swimming RPF
Genre: A Little Porn, F/F, Femslash, Friends to Lovers, Fuckbuddies, Light Angst, Pining, Rio 2016
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-12-20
Packaged: 2018-08-24 02:23:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8352955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moonlark/pseuds/Moonlark
Summary: "Leah bites her lip, and Katie has to use every ounce of self-control she has to keep her eyes from focusing on that, to maintain eye contact instead. It's so much harder to restrain herself here, in the context of good fun, where she doesn't have the excuse of swimming to tell herself to look away and not think about that kind of stuff. She can't stop thinking about Leah's lips, and how soft they look, and how she could taste the sweet cocktail Leah's been drinking if she just leaned forward..."





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> "it's hard to relax when all u wanna do is love a decent person"--shitpost generator, August 2016

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a little intro here, the real story that starts in chapter 2 will be coming soon. I'm planning four more parts, which will be three chapters and an epilogue.

Looking back and telling the tale, years in the future, Katie will say that it all started in Rio.

Then she'll pause for a moment, frown and say that actually, that's not entirely true. She'll remember it all well enough to know that she'd started realizing things well before Rio, that the big gay freakout had happened two full years earlier--or rather, hadn't happened, because somehow she'd accepted that realization fairly easily. She'll grin and say she was lucky like that, lucky she was too busy swimming to worry about sexuality, lucky that it came well before the fateful days of Rio.

At this point Leah will interrupt in a bright Pittsburgh accent that's been softened by the years and say that Katie's lucky in general, obviously--she's ended up with Leah after all. And Katie will laugh and say that Leah's the lucky one, because who else would put up with her dick jokes and puns and poor taste in sports teams? And Leah will grin right back and wrap her arms around Katie and pull her into her lap, and at this point if you don't stop them they'll be making out for the rest of the evening and you might not get to hear the whole story.

Interrupt them gently--a tug on a sleeve should do it. They'll blush and pull apart with eyes sparkling, still sickeningly in love even all these years later. Katie will mumble for a few moments before starting the story up again, now tucked up against Leah (despite the fact that she's still the taller one), leaving one arm wrapped around her fiancée's waist and her head resting on Leah's shoulder.

Anyway, she'll say, she'd already known about that. In fact, she'd already started crushing on Leah, hard--that had started a full year earlier, back in Kazan, and it had only gotten stronger. But at that point it was just a silly crush. When it came to _them_...

And Katie will get a faraway look in her eye and say, low, quiet, so that you might have to lean forward to hear, that if she had to pinpoint a moment...

She would say it started in Rio, at a party.


	2. I

It's really supposed to be partly Katie's celebration. After all, she did just snatch her first gold of the games, and in no small fashion either. No matter how many medals she wins, or records she sets, the thrill of it is always new, bright, just as heady and intoxicating as it's always been. God, she loves winning. She loves swimming. Right now, she loves the whole entire fucking world.

And yet.

Being the center of a party like this... is not exactly her style.

Somehow, she ends up on a couch in the corner of the room, legs tucked up in front of her and a mostly full cup in her hand. It's only her second, but whatever is in that cup is pretty strong, pink and chilled with a distinct bubblegum flavor. She's not exactly drunk yet, not by her family's Irish standards, but she's definitely slipping past buzzed, and she doesn't really trust herself around Leah at any level of inebriation.

She can still admire from afar, though. Leah's over at the beer pong table the rowers had set up, partnered up with one of the volleyball players. She's paying very little attention to anything that's not the game, which means Katie can look as much as she wants.

It really is a great view. Leah's tank top does an excellent job of showing off her tanned biceps, and the shorts she's wearing leave absolutely nothing to the imagination. God, Katie wants to kiss her. She wants to taste. She wants to _touch_.

"Hey, Decks."

The words startle her out of her thoughts as Maya flops down into the armchair next to the couch. "It's a night of glory, come on. What're you doing off in the corner?" she says, close enough to slide the words under the blasting music.

Katie blinks, a hair slower than usual. "People-watching."

"See anything good?"

The song changes, a sweet thumping bass speeding up and taking over, resounding deep in Katie's bones and making the floor shake. On the far side of the room, the volleyball player--what was her name? Something Robinson. Kelly? Kelsey, maybe--sinks the final shot, and Leah whoops, punching the air and high fiving Robinson. Her shirt is riding up, showing tantalizing flashes of toned abs and soft skin.

Katie swallows. "Yeah." She really should stop staring.

When she does, Maya is looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a quiet smile. "Something really good, huh?"

Katie's just drunk enough that she nods. "Yep," she says, with a little extra pop on the p.

Maya laughs. "You're pretty far gone on her," she says softly, with a trace of wistfulness.

"What, is it too obvious?"

"No, I just know what to look for. It's hard, being in love with someone you can't have." For a second, Maya glances over into the mass of people in the next room, but she turns away too fast for Katie to see who she's looking at.

"Here's to hoping it works out for you," Maya says, raising her cup slightly. "You're a good kid. She is too, she'd do right by you."

Okay, that's a bit too deep. "Hey, I'm not that much of a kid," Katie deflects, but she still lifts her own cup in a similar gesture and takes a gulp. "Thanks," she adds.

Maya nods and drinks. Once again, her eyes flicker over to the next room, but she doesn't seem to find what she's looking for.

"I'm getting another beer," she says, standing abruptly. "Want anything?"

Katie takes a moment to think about it. "Nah, I'm fine, thanks."

She drains half of her cup in the time Maya's away, and is starting to regret not asking for a beer, or at least some water. She considers getting up and hunting something down herself, but before she makes a decision, Maya's back, and right behind her is Lilly.

"Ey yo, it's the Ledeckster!" Lilly exclaims, dropping down into one of the rickety armchairs; Maya takes the other. "Where've you been, hanging out here in the corner all night? Haven't seen you at all!"

"Oh, I'm just tired, that's all," Katie says, and yawns for good measure.

"Oh, shit, sorry," Lilly whispers, "I'll be quiet." She turns so Maya and makes an elaborate shushing gesture that doesn't make much sense. Maya simply smiles softly in response, and they slip into silence, sipping their respective drinks and feeling the pounding music deep in their chests.

"Bruh, we should play truth or dare," Lilly says suddenly, almost knocking her beer off the armrest. "Whoops," she hiccups as Katie saves it from falling.

Katie shakes her head. "Nah, I'm too tired to do any dares now."

"What about truth or truth, then?"

"I'm down with that," Maya says.

It probably isn't a good idea, but Katie isn't particularly feeling partial to good ideas right now. "Okay, sure."

Lilly grins. "Good. You go first."

"Mmmh." Katie thinks for a moment. "Oh, here's a good one. What's the weirdest place you've had sex?"

Lilly grins. "The steeple of my old church. Way up by the bells. I took another girl in my youth group up there during a lock-in. They started ringing the hour just as we came."

Maya chokes on her beer. Lilly cackles, and points to her. "What about you, Dorito?"

Maya hesitates. "Um, back of a school bus? I don't make a habit of having sex in weird places."

"C'mon, you gotta have a story with that," Lilly needles. "Why a school bus? What year? Gimme the deets, Doreets!"

"Well, it's really not much of a story, really..." Maya starts, but Lilly's pout makes her give in. "It was really late at night coming back from a meet my freshman year, and a bunch of us started playing chicken, and... I, well, went all the way."

"Whoah," Katie breathes out. She can't imagine being that brave, that open, and as a 9th grader at that.

"Damn, Dorito!" Lilly laughs. "With everyone watching? That's bold!"

Maya shrugs. "I won the game," she says, and then takes another gulp of her beer. "What about you, Decks?"

Katie shakes her head. "I don't have to tell, it's my question. And anyway I don't have any good stories. Give me a different question."

Lilly leans forward. "Okay, bro. If you had to, what other swimmer here would you fuck?"

Over Lilly's shoulder, Katie can see Maya's face freeze.

 _Oh_.

She shrugs as noncommittally as she can, trying to stay casual. "I dunno. I guess... uh... I don't know. Who would you say?"

Lilly laughs. "There's a couple I'd be down with. Efimova, for one. Think she'd be angry enough at me to make it... interesting. Fun. Like, a rough night, but in a good way."

Maya's grin doesn't quite reach her eyes. "Are you gonna make me kinkshame you?"

"Hey, don't knock it till you've tried it," Lilly shoots back. "And anyway," she continues, turning back to Katie, "you never answered the question. Who would you go with? Or d'you have something to hide?"

Katie swallows, looking away. Unconsciously, her eyes flicker over to where Leah's leaning against a wall and chatting with her beer pong teammate. The other girl's got a few inches on Leah, and the way she leans down and in to hear what Leah's saying makes something curl uncomfortably in the pit of Katie's stomach.

"Leah," she says without thinking. "She's pretty great, and hot. But it's not like she'd be down for that." A faint hint of bitterness creeps into her voice. "And she seems a bit busy right now."

Lilly turns to see where she's looking, and her jaw drops. "Wait, are you serious?!"

Katie glances at her. "About what?"

Lilly grins. "Do you like her? Like, _like_ -like?"

Katie blushes and shakes her head. "No, shut up, no. It's not, she's not--" but she can't help looking back over to where Leah and the girl are--except they're not. Neither of them are anywhere to be seen. The uncomfortable curl in Katie's stomach twists a little further.

Lilly gasps. "Holy shit! You're jealous! Are you for real?!"

"No, I'm not! It's not like that, shut up, I don't, you can't tell--"

"Oh my god, this is beautiful. You're like, three thousand percent in love with her!"

"Who's three thousand percent in love with who?" a new voice asks, gutwrenchingly familiar, and Katie looks up to see Leah standing right in front of her.

"What're yinz so excited about?" the other girl says, dropping down next to Katie on the couch.

 _Oh, fuck no_.

"Katie thinks you're hot," Lilly informs her cheerfully, with the biggest shit-eating grin the world has ever seen.

Katie doesn't think she's ever wished more to be able to sink down through the floor and just disappear. She can feel the blush flaming across her cheeks, and she ducks her head and stares determinedly at the floor.

Leah's eyebrows shoot up, and she leans forward, nearly spilling her drink. "Oh?"

Lilly's grin somehow gets even bigger. "She hasn't taken her eyes off you all night."

Katie grabs a pillow and throws it at Lilly, who tries to duck out of the way and then yelps as she slips sideways off her chair. The second pillow nails her right in the chest. The third pillow is snatched away from Katie as she grabs for it.

"Hey now," Allison says, appearing from nowhere, "no fighting, no fighting."

Behind her, an absolutely hammered Missy giggles and adds "Shakira, Shakira," under her breath.

"How else am I supposed to shut her up?" Katie asks rhetorically, snatching the first pillow up from the floor.

"I dunno," Allison shrugs. "But violence is never the answer. What'd you say that's so bad anyway, Lill?"

Lilly, still on the floor, looks up. Her grin is so large it seems like it'll be walking off her face any minute now. "She thinks Leah's ho-o-ot," she singsongs.

"Oh my god," Katie groans. She sends a kick in Lilly's direction, but Allison blocks it.

"Wait, what? Is this real life?" Missy gasps, slurring her words slightly--enough that Katie has to actively focus to determine what she's saying. "Are you actually crushing on her?"

Katie hides her face behind the pillow and adamantly refuses to answer the question.

Missy doesn't seem to care. "You two would be so cute together, honestly! Like, oh my gosh. What a power couple. And you'd balance each other out! How perfect can you get..." She trails off, and then grins conspiratorially, leaning forward as if she's got some great secret to share. "You should totally go for it."

If only a giant hole would open up in the ground and swallow her completely. Katie doesn't think she's ever been so mortified. And goddammit, Leah's still sitting right fucking next to her.

"Yeah," Lilly chimes in, somehow still grinning like the Cheshire cat, "you'd really--"

Leah cuts her off. "All right, yinz've taken this far enough. Calm your tits and leave off."

"But--" Missy protests, but Leah stands firm.

"This ain't fun anymore. Leave her _alone_."

Maya stands and grabs Lilly's arm, hauling her up. "C'mon, let's go somewhere else, okay? Go get another drink or something." Allison manages to wrangle Missy away too, and then Katie's left alone with Leah.

There's silence for a moment. The pillow slips down to the floor. Katie bites her lip and tries not to look at Leah.

"Thank you," she says softly.

Leah nods. "No problem, boblem. Seemed like it wasn't much fun for you."

Katie shrugs. "Well, things could've gone worse." She glances at Leah for an instant, and immediately realizes how much of a mistake that is.

Once she's looking at Leah, she doesn't want to look away.

Leah bites her lip, and Katie has to use every ounce of self-control she has to keep her eyes from focusing on that, to maintain eye contact instead. It's so much harder to restrain herself here, in the context of good fun, where she doesn't have the excuse of swimming to tell herself to look away and not think about that kind of stuff. She can't stop thinking about Leah's lips, and how soft they look, and how she could taste the sweet cocktail Leah's been drinking if she just leaned forward...

Wait, Leah's saying something. Katie blinks. "Huh?"

Leah laughs, and it's a beautiful sound. "I was just wondering if what Lilly said was true."

It takes about half a second for the trademarked Ledecky Blush to come rushing back full force. Katie groans and hides her face in her hands. This is like a nightmare, she thinks, except worse. Leah's right next to her--they're pressed together from hip to thigh, and _god_ , she's so warm--it's like the worst kind of torture.

"Katie?" Leah says, leaning forward and _holy shit that's Leah's hand on her thigh, this is too much, how is she supposed to think now--_

"Yeah," she mumbles, hyper-aware of the way she can feel the warmth of Leah's hand through her shorts. "It's... true. Very true. It is, um, you are. Really attractive." She's not used to fumbling for words like this. "I-- yeah. I... I mean, it's just thoughts really. Like, it's, um. I don't want to make you uncomfortable or, or anything--"

"Katie," Leah interrupts, reaching out to grab Katie's wrists and pull her hands down away from her face. "Look at me."

Katie looks. Leah's face is very close to her own, those soft brown eyes wide and bright and staring into her own. All of a sudden, it feels way too intimate, yet she can't seem to move, doesn't want to. "Yeah?" she breathes.

Leah is still holding her wrists.

"I'm going to kiss you now," the other girl says, quietly, with a hint of a smile.

Katie's breath catches in her throat. "Yeah?" she manages to say again. It seems to be the only word she's able to say around Leah.

"Yeah," Leah grins, shifting on the couch so she's angled a little more toward Katie. "Okay?"

And, well, what else is Katie going to say to that?

"Okay," she gets out, and then Leah's leaning forward, and then they're kissing.

It's small, close-mouthed, just a tentative brush of lips passing between them. An offering, a hesitant moment--gone too soon as Leah draws back. Her eyes are dark, unreadable, and for an instant Katie finds herself wondering if somehow she's managed to frighten Leah away, or if she's pushed too far, too fast, despite the fact that it was Leah who leaned in first.

But no, Leah's still there right next to her, still holding Katie's wrists, her eyes still flicking up and down between Katie's own eyes and her mouth. "You okay?" she asks, and all of a sudden it becomes absolutely clear that all she's waiting for is a signal, some kind of sign that this is something Katie wants, something good and wonderful and right and--

"Yeah," she blurts out, the fourth time so far tonight. A bright smile flashes across Leah's face, and Katie can feel her blush somehow getting even redder, but that doesn't matter because Leah's hands have come up to either side of her face, and there are lips on hers again.

Leah kisses like she talks--bold and open and stronger than steel. It's forceful and firm in all the right ways, and Katie finds herself kissing back as hard as she can, catching Leah's lip between her teeth and not being afraid to pull, to tug.

It's unlike any kiss she's ever had before. Her eyes slip shut, and her hands gain a life of their own, one settling on Leah's hip and the other coming up to thread itself through the other girl's hair, tilting her head slightly to the side and changing the angle of the kiss. And-- that's good, that's really good, and Leah lets out a little muffled moan, and Katie doesn't ever want this to stop, even when they have to eventually break apart for air.

She opens her eyes slowly. Her lips are tingling.

"Holy shit."

Leah grins. "Let's get out of here."


End file.
